Trinidad PM calls off curfews

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad 
Trinidad's prime minister has lifted a curfew the government first imposed in August.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar (KAM-la per-SAD BIH-sess-ur) announced Monday evening that the 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew is over. But she says a state of emergency that accompanied the curfew remains in place.

In a nationally televised address, Persad-Bissessar said the decision to end the curfew was made after the national security council advised the government to do so.

Persad-Bissessar, whose party won last year in part because of the previous government's inability to control crime, ordered the new curfew Aug. 21, even as she acknowledged it would disrupt people's lives.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - The mile-long stretch of bars and restaurants known as St. James has long been a magnet for all-night revelry, a blur of dancing bodies and blaring calypso, while rich smoke from grilling meat and shark fills the air.

Not anymore: The party here, and on much of Trinidad, now ends at 11 p.m. Anyone out later could end up in jail.

Trinidad imposed a curfew in August that requires everyone to be off the streets, a temporary order aimed at halting the rise in homicides on this Caribbean island.

But the curfew, which started out as a two-week solution and was extended for up to three months because it seemed to work so well, is starting to chafe many in a country known for its nightlife and party culture, a place where carnival is perhaps second only to Brazil in its vibrancy and fame.

Throughout the 19 sections of Trinidad where the curfew is in place, the law is particularly hard on bar and nightclub owners, at least those who don't lock everyone inside for a compulsory all-night party.

"The curfew mashing up my business," said McDonald Ward, owner of Mas Camp, a restaurant and nightclub in Port-of-Spain, the capital. He says business has dropped 80 percent.

Khadajal Alphonse, a casino worker in her early 20s, blames the prime minister for the loss of her job.

"I used to make good money in tips, too," she said. "All that done now."

Trinidad and Tobago, the full name of the twin-island nation of 1.3 million people, is one of the most prosperous Caribbean countries thanks to oil and natural gas that make it a major fuel supplier for the U.S. and other nations. It has one of the region's most diverse populations, a blend of African, Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern cultures. But it also has developed a gang culture fueled by drug trafficking that has caused crime to soar.

The country has experienced political turmoil in the past, including a 1990 attempted coup by Muslim extremists that prompted the last curfew in Trinidad.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whose party won last year in part because of the previous government's inability to control crime, ordered the new curfew Aug. 21, even as she acknowledged it would disrupt people's lives.